Still on a Reading kick…

I think research is a writer’s best procrastination tool.
At least I can’t think of anything more fun than curling up with some of my new favorite authors.

I will, however, have to expand my mythological/paranormal research beyond the realm of the internet since I just saw one of my “borrowed” characters – a demon named Raum – in someone else’s book.

Sigh, it is such a small wiki-world.

Research is a girl’s best friend, right after her vibrator, and her imagination.

I’ve been reading and reading, and I’m fascinated by the growing trend of Urban Fantasy books that are tied to a specific geography. Storm Born and Thorn Queen take place in Arizona, The Graywalker Series by Kat Richardson and the  Succubus Blues series by Richelle Mead take place in Seattle, Vicki Pettersson’s Sign of the Zodiac are in the city of sin Las Vegas and Devon Monk’s Allie Beckstrom stories take place in another version of my home town… Portland, Oregon.

I’ve started all the series but I haven’t caught up with all of them yet – and some are much better structured than the others (Mead’s Storm Born/Thorn Queen and Richardson’s Poltergeist are among the best plotted that I’ve read so far). What I love about them all is their use of place and the richness of their descriptions.

Oh, and the fact that there isn’t a whiny woman among them. Damaged yes, but survivors.

You gotta love that!

I should probably get back to the actual writing part of the program today. It is so tempting to curl up with the cat and a book…

Oh, and Erastes has inspired me to get my library on Goodreads… so you can find my bookshelves there but it is a work in progress.

And, since we are catching up, Ravenous Romance is back on line, however I don’t appear to exist yet but I’m hoping they will have the website back to 100% soon.

If you didn’t hear… they were maliciously hacked over the weekend. Haven’t yet heard why they were targeted but the attack was bad enough to take them down for three days. So, good thoughts out to all of them… and what I wouldn’t give for a little magic to punish the perpetrators… or maybe a nice kick though a doorway into to Hell.

Licks!

Changing Direction

Gentile Readers – I’ve been away.

I know shame on me. But, before you start throwing nipple clamps at me, it was for a good cause.

I started my first novel.

After all… what is a girl to do once she’s written a short stories and novellas? Isn’t a novel the next frontier?

With the last novella that I wrote my focus shifted. It became more about the story, the adventure, than about the sex. This is a big deal because I’ve always self identified as an erotica writer.

I think I may be becoming something else.

Don’t get me wrong – I love the sex. Thinking. Imagining. Writing. It is just that I found myself drawn to the fight and flight scenes, the moments between, and developing the characters on the sidelines that move the plot forward.

Anyway – so I’m moving into the realm of what is known as Paranormal Erotica and Urban Fantasy. Trust me – there will still be sex. My friend JC is very worried that there won’t be enough sex but I promised him there would be. But it will walk hand in hand with the plot rather than moving it forward on its own.

So forgive me my absence – a novel is a very serious undertaking – and if you can find it in your heart forgive me my desertion.

As always….

Licks!